Ursula von Rydingsvard in Wyoming

by Nicole J. Caruth|Aug 8, 2008

The University of Wyoming Art Museum recently mounted the exhibition Sculpture: A Wyoming Invitational. Pictured above on the Museum’s terrace is “Doolin, Doolin” by Art21 artist Ursula von Rydingsvard (Season 4). This large-scale sculpture (83 x 212 x 77 inches) was the centerpiece for von Rydingsvard’s 1997 solo exhibition at Galerie Lelong. A New York Times reviewer of the Lelong show commented on the piece: ”Doolin, Doolin, [named] after an Irish seacoast town, evokes a set of stout, ocean-battered cliffs or, more fancifully, a cluster of clifflike sentinels bent on guarding a land of myth and poetry.”

The sculpture (detail above) is created from carved 2 x 4-inch cedar beams rather than von Rydingsvard’s more commonly used 4 x 4-inch beams. In an Art21 interview the artist said, “If I were to point to something from the [postwar refugee] camps that one can see most directly in my work it is that we stayed in barracks—with raw wooden floors, walls, and ceilings. I have a feeling that that fed into my working with wood. And the first time I ever saw Poland—all of the villages, all the homes there, were made of wood. There were stacks of wood, doors, and troughs of wood. Wood was the building material. So it’s somewhere in my blood, and I’m dipping into that source. The way in which I manipulate the cedar is very important to me, but I have a feeling that I even learned from things that I never saw.”

Sculpture is on view at the UW Art Museum through July 31, 2009. Visit the exhibition blog for the latest information.

Nicole J. Caruth is managing editor of the ART21 Magazine. Her writing has appeared in a range of publications, including ARTnews, C Magazine, Gastronomica, Public Art Review, and the Phaidon Press books Vitamin Green and Vitamin D2. A regular contributor to this site since 2008, she joined the ART21 staff in 2013.